Stock Market Tracking

The Chief Financial Officer of SanDisk stated that it is expected to obtain a total contract amount of $93.9 billion from 8 customers during the contract period, with a Non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 80% for the fiscal years 2028 to 2030, and a Non-GAAP operating profit margin expected to reach about 75%. It is anticipated that the adjusted free cash flow profit margin will remain at 50% for the fiscal years 2028 to 2030. The company stated that in the future, after fulfilling strategic investment and business development needs, it will return 100% of excess cash to shareholders.SanDisk expects that as the storage industry cycle improves and the demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence infrastructure grows, the company's profitability will further enhance, and shareholder value will be increased through high-margin businesses and capital return strategies. This capital allocation plan shows that SanDisk will prioritize business expansion and strategic investments in the future while returning remaining cash to investors through stock buybacks, dividends, and other means.

According to NATE, South Korea's financial regulatory authorities are advancing the revision of the Capital Markets Act, planning to grant regulators the "emergency intervention rights" to directly take market stabilization measures during periods of severe stock market fluctuations.Currently, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea has initiated relevant legal amendments with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), focusing on single-stock leveraged ETF products that are believed to amplify volatility during the recent stock market crash. Proposed regulatory measures include adjusting leverage multiples and setting investment limits.In cases of abnormal market fluctuations, the aim is to reduce the risks associated with concentrated trading of funds. Additionally, South Korea's financial regulatory authorities are considering setting personal investment limits for single-stock leveraged ETFs, standardizing the investment cap at around 20% to prevent excessive concentration of funds, and introducing a simulated trading system to enhance investors' understanding of the risks associated with leveraged products.South Korean regulators stated that the increase in the basic margin is primarily aimed at raising the investment threshold, while the investment limit effectively sets an "upper limit" on fund inflows, with both measures forming a complementary risk control system.Previously, South Korea had raised the minimum margin requirement for investors in single-stock leveraged ETFs from 10 million won to 30 million won starting July 31.Data shows that on the first day of the new regulations, the trading volume of 16 related leveraged ETFs was approximately 3 trillion won, only about a quarter of the previous trading day's 12.4 trillion won, and a decrease of about 80% compared to the 15 trillion won level on July 29.

According to Daum, the South Korean stock market has recently experienced increased volatility, with investors' risk appetite significantly cooling, and funds are flowing back from the stock market to safer assets such as banks. Due to adjustments in the semiconductor sector and stricter regulations on leveraged investments, the funds waiting to be invested in the South Korean stock market are rapidly withdrawing, leading to a phenomenon of "reverse capital migration."Data shows that by the end of July, the balance of time deposits at the five major banks in South Korea (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH Nonghyup) reached 973.49 trillion won, an increase of 24.09 trillion won compared to the end of the previous month, marking the largest monthly increase this year.There has also been a noticeable contraction in funds around the stock market. Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association shows that the deposits in investors' securities accounts (funds waiting to be invested in stock trading) reached a historical high of 139.69 trillion won on June 4, but had fallen to 107.20 trillion won by July 28, a decrease of over 32 trillion won in less than two months. The balance of credit trading financing, which represents the scale of market financing transactions, also dropped to 33.19 trillion won during the same period, down approximately 4.5 trillion won from the peak of 37.72 trillion won recorded on July 2, a decrease of about 12%.

According to CNBC, the combined market value change of 6 U.S. tech giants that have released earnings reports this week is close to $2 trillion, as investors are selecting winners based on cloud business growth and AI capital expenditure returns.The combined market value of Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft increased by nearly $1.5 trillion, with Microsoft increasing by over $600 billion, and both Amazon and Alphabet increasing by over $400 billion.Meanwhile, Apple's market value evaporated by over $350 billion, Meta decreased by about $85 billion, and Tesla decreased by about $7 billion. Although Apple exceeded expectations in revenue, profit, and iPhone sales, it expects revenue growth of 9% to 11% this quarter, below analysts' expectations of 12%, and stated that shortages of memory chips and competition for wafer production capacity will continue to limit supply, causing its stock price to drop by over 7% on Friday.Amazon's AWS revenue in the second quarter grew by 37% year-on-year, marking the fastest growth rate since 2021, which drove its stock price up by over 15% on Friday. The company also raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2026 from $200 billion to $220 billion. Microsoft rose 15% on Thursday, while Meta fell 8%, indicating a clear divergence in the market's judgment on the AI investment returns of the two companies.Jefferies stated that the AI spending of tech giants is approaching $800 billion over the next 12 months. The current market debate is no longer whether there is real demand for AI, but whether long-term profits can support such large-scale investments.